Author(s)

ALEJANDRO ACOSTA COLLAZO

Abstract

In recent years, some researchers around the world have started to focus their studies on industrial heritage preservation and planning. There is an old railway station in Aguascalientes that became obsolete in 1990, but it was restored as a museum a few years ago; there is a big railway complex behind the railway station. Some of the main buildings are abandoned and an urgent reparation is needed in order to preserve this heritage for future generations. The restoration of the Locomotive Repair Building used new materials to show visitors the brand-new facilities, whilst matching the old building aspects. Also, a special soil treatment was applied to create an eco-friendly building. In addition, there are industrial mills around the railway complex, comprising the most important area of built industrial heritage in Aguascalientes city. Lately, people have started recognizing these types of buildings as part of the industrial heritage. In order to write this paper, applied statistics for a human research survey with closed questions were used. This helped discover the importance of industrial heritage for the people who live around the railway complex and next to the old factories and mills. The city planners can now identify the most important historic buildings (for the experts and for the people) and they can make an appropriate landscape architecture project. Also, it was convenient to study the typology of the old railroad houses closer to the industrial complex. It is opportune to propose an industrial heritage catalogue in the near future – studying history and examining old urban drawings – to achieve an effective sustainable urban planning in Aguascalientes.

Keywords

industrial heritage, sustainable development, city planning